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Manumit School Collection

Call Number

TAM.528

Date

circa 1920s-2010s, inclusive

Creator

Speer, R. Michael
Fincke, William Mann
Dretzin, Barbara Dutton (Role: Donor)

Extent

2 Linear Feet
in two manuscript boxes, one folder, and one oversize flat box.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Manumit School was a Christian socialist school in Pawling, NY, 1924-1943, then in Bristol, PA, 1944-1958. The collection is an assembled collection containing printed ephemera, correspondence, writings of the School's director (1933-1958), William Mann Fincke, who was a son of the co-founders, Reverend William Mann Fincke (d. 1927) and Helen Harden Fincke; a CD containing material from the website "Manumit School" devoted to its history, and photographs of students and life at the school.

Historical/Biographical Note

Manumit School was a Christian socialist co-educational, elementary, non-denominational, boarding school in Pawling, NY, 1924-1943, then in Bristol, PA, 1944-1958. In 1924, Rev. William Mann Fincke and his wife, Helen Hamlin, founded Manumit as an elementary level, co-educational, boarding school on a working farm in Pawling, NY. In 1926, Henry I. Lineman became interim Director upon illness of Rev. Fincke, who died in 1927. In 1927-1928 Nellie M. Seeds became Director, Seeds resigned in 1933 and joined the New York State Education Department. In 1933, William Mann Fincke, the son of Fincke and Hamlin, assumed Co-Directorship, with wife, Mildred Gignoux By 1938-1939 the Progressive Schools' Committee for Refugee Children formed under leadership of Mildred and William Fincke. In 1944, Manumit moved to Bristol, Bensalem Township, Bucks County, PA. The first full high school graduation occurred in 1951. During this period, Benjamin ("Ben") C. G. Fincke [son of founders], with wife, Magda, were Co-Director, from 1947-1954, until replaced by John A. Lindhof. In 1956, external attacks on the school began, due to it being an interracial school, which led to the school closure in 1958. In the 2000s, alumni of the school began holding reunions and symposiums, resulting in additional materials in this collection.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Contents

The collection is an artificial grouping of records, printed ephemera, three issues of The Manuscript, and writings of the Director, 1933-1958, William Mann Fincke, who was a son of the co-founders, Reverend William Mann Fincke and Helen Harden Fincke. There is significant amount of correspondence in the collection, including letters to Benjamin and Magda Fincke; a chronology and several histories of Manumit; a CD containing material from the website "Manumit School" devoted to its history, and selected email exchanges from 2005-2009 between alumni; also included are copies of some materials from the New York Public Library. A second CD contains the proceedings of a Manumit School Symposium of Jul 9, 2011. The collection also contains many photographs, including photographs of the groups, students, and programing. In addition, there is an oversized book of illustrated stories written by Manumit School students who were around high school age during World War II.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Manumit School were transferred to New York University in 2010 by Robert Michal (Mike) Speer and in 2013 by Barbara Dutton Dretzin. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Manumit School Collection; TAM 528; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Robert Michael (Mike) Speer in 2009; additional materials were donated by Speer in 2011, 2014, and 2016, and by Barbara Dutton Dretzin in 2013. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2010.027, 2011.148, 2013.016, 2014.104, and 2016.019.

Custodial History

The archived website was migrated from the California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service to the Internet Archive's Archive-It Service in November 2015. The link to California Digital Library was removed in October 2017.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Due to technical or privacy issues, archived websites may not be exact copies of the original website at the time of the web crawl. Certain file types will not be captured dependent on how they are embedded in the site. Other parts of websites that the crawler has difficulty capturing includes Javascript, streaming content, database-driven content, and highly interactive content. Full-Text searches of archived websites are available at https://archive-it.org/organizations/567.

Related Archival Materials

An archived version of the website can be found here: http://webarchives.cdlib.org/site/sw15d8nk00

Collection processed by

Tamiment staff

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:35:27 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English

Processing Information

Photographs were separated from this collection during initial processing and were established as a separate collection, the Manumit School Photographs (PHOTOS 282). In 2013, the photograph collection was reincorporated into the Manumit School Collection. A box and folder list were also added in 2013. An album of illustrated stories was originally covered in tape, which was removed by the Preservation department. In 2016 an accretion consisting of correspondence and a catalog from the school was donated and incorporated into the collection in accordance with previous arrangement and description decisions.

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

View Inventory

2012 Addendum, 2008-2012, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

2015 Addendum, 1952, 2012, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Book of Illustrated Stories Written by Manumit School Students Who Were Around High School Age During World War II, 1940s, inclusive

Box: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chronology and Histories, 2000s, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chronology and Alumni Correspondence, 2007-2012, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 2A (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Cohn, Fannia M. Papers (Copies), 1932-1933, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence and Writings on Manumit, 1950-1956, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

E-mails, 2005-2009, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, Benjamin and Magda: Letters to, 1944-1954, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, Benjamin: In Memory of, 2003, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, Benjamin: Resignation as Co-Director, 1954, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, William Mann: Memoranda on Manumit, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, William Mann: Memorial Service, 1927, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, William Mann: "Selections from the Theory of Knowledge" [long poem], 1944, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fincke, William Mann: Writings, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Garland Fund/American Fund for Public Service (Copies), 1924-1930, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Greenstone, Ted, 1954-1955, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Manumit School Publications, 1928-1956, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Manumit School Website CD, 2010, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 15 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Manumit Symposium CD, 2011 July 9, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 16 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

The Manuscript, undated, 1955-1956, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 17 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs: Manumit School "Dixon-Bush" Work Program, 1949-1951, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs: Manumit School Photographs from Peppy Vulliet on CD, 2000s, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs: Manumit School Photographs from Scrapbook, 1947-1948, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs: Manumit School Photographs from Scrapbook (Photocopies of pages), 1947-1948, inclusive

Box: Shared Tamiment OS005 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs: Manumit School Reunion (CD), 2006, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs, 1938-1939, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs, 1948-1967, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs, 1950-2004, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs, 2000s, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

[Reproductions, Possibly from New York Public Library and Photocopies of Manumit Brochures], 1924-1944, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scholarship Fund Program Event, 1957, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

School Closing Materials, 1957-1958, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Writings, undated

Box: 2, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Archived Website, Sep 2, 2009-ongoing

Scope and Content Note

The Manumit School was an "experimental boarding school in Pawling NY. Founded on purchased farm land in 1924 by William and Helen Fincke, it was formally call the Manumit School for Workers' Children. An early promotional flyer for the school asked parents if they'd like their children to grow up "to become men and women who can think for themselves, stand on their own two feet and fight injustice and oppression. " It's teachings were meant to provide a "progressive " "workers education" slant during a time of increasing socialist optimism in America. In 1944 the school moved to Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The school closed in 1957. This website is an informational website.

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012